


tell me a story

by nanasekei



Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2019 Fills [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Human Disaster Steve Rogers, M/M, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 05:16:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasekei/pseuds/nanasekei
Summary: Tony can smell disaster even before he steps into the room.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2019 Fills [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1485866
Comments: 34
Kudos: 402
Collections: Happy Steve Bingo 2019





	tell me a story

**Author's Note:**

> For my "Awkward with babies/kids" square on Happy Steve Bingo. Thanks to the anon who sent me the prompt, and to Ferret for the beta!

Tony can smell disaster even before he steps into the room.

First of all, it’s too quiet. Usually, by now, the kids are very excited about story time, which means they interrupt the story constantly, asking questions and making weird, random commentary. So, the quietness from the room they’re in, interrupted only by a sole low, monotone sound Tony assumes is his husband’s voice, is an immediate concern.

Busy holding a baby, Tony considers ignoring it, because Steve had been so nervous and excited to come along with him for the first time to the Smithe Home for Children. It’s fair to allow him some alone time with the kids. From the time Tony has spent with them (almost three months, regularly, now), he has gathered that they can be very fun little monsters, and he wants Steve to get the full, surreal experience of trying to tell a coherent story to a group of five-year-olds.

Because the thing is: Tony loves volunteering. Sometimes the kids are moody, other times they’re more cooperative, but one thing that never changes is that they operate on a bizarrely individual logic that only makes sense in their heads, and they don’t see why it wouldn’t make sense on everyone else’s, which kind of fascinates Tony.

He was once interrupted halfway through a telling of Red Riding Hood by a girl who asked him why his chest glowed. When he replied, the girl simply nodded, then said “I love you” and motioned for him to get on with the story. He wants Steve to have a taste of this unique mix of weirdness and cuteness.

Besides, at least no one is crying.

Still, the lack of responsive noises eventually become too much for Tony, who finishes cradling two-month-old Dorota (his undeniable favorite) and places her back in her crib.

When he gets inside the storytelling room, he immediately understands what’s wrong.

The kids are sitting in a perfect circle, which is already a little odd – usually they form somewhat of an oval shape at best, given their propension to stand up at random times, switch places with their colleagues, or to simply lie on their backs on the floor. They’re also not saying anything, and, after a moment of consideration, Tony realizes most of them are not following the story – their faces have vacant stares, and they’re blatantly looking anywhere but at Steve, seemingly distracted by literally anything else in the room. Two of them are sneakily coloring.

Then Tony’s gaze lands on Steve, and, look—he can’t help it. Even after almost a year, he’s still not fully used to the idea that he gets to call this man his husband. Right now, positioned in the most uncomfortable way in a chair that’s about five sizes too small, holding a tiny children’s book in his hands and frowning as if trying very hard to convey all the nuances of the storytelling with his voice, Steve is just the most adorable thing Tony’s ever seen, beating even sweet Dorota, whose drool is still on Tony’s shirt.

Seeing Steve’s efforts, though, the children’s open disinterest stings a little – Tony wants to tell them all to stop being spoiled brats and give some appreciation to this man who’s trying so hard and just looks so cute in the child-sized chair. He wants to tell them that, by getting Steve Rogers’ attention, they’ve already peaked in life at five-years-old, so they might as well enjoy it.

Except that, well.

He kind of gets their point.

The thing is that… well, it’s not that simple, story time. It’s not just about reading—the kids enjoy interacting and reacting, and they need some kind of extra touch to follow the narrative. Steve, trying hard as Tony knows he is, just isn’t doing anything to make the story interesting – no acting out the characters voices, no dramatic pauses for extra impact, nothing. He’s just… reading, and Tony guesses the kids were instructed to be respectful in Captain America’s presence, so that’s why they haven’t raised hell yet, but there’s no denying they’re bored.

Steve, Tony notices with a tight chest, seems to have realized this, too. He keeps raising his eyes to try and see if the children’s behavior has changed, and his disappointment is clear. His performance is a disaster, and he’s clearly embarrassed about it, and Tony’s heart is already in pieces just by watching it for a couple of seconds, so--

He _ has _to step in.

“Hey, everyone,” he says, and some of the kids break out of their trance, grinning. Tony finds Steve’s eyes, worried that he’s going to be upset Tony is stealing his scene, but there’s clear relief written on his face, so he keeps going. “So, guess what—world-saving emergency.” He raises his eyebrows in an exaggerated warn, and by now all the children are fully awake. Nothing like the threat of mortal danger to kill the spectrum of a five-year-old’s boredom. “Cap is needed to fight some aliens.”

The room erupts into questions.

“Which aliens? Like Loki?”

“Can I come along?”

“Does that mean you’ve got the shield?”

“Are the aliens like Thor? Is he going to fight Thor?”

Steve’s eyes widen, shocked to suddenly be the center of attention. Now that they know he’s going to go away, all the children are, of course, incredibly interested in him.

“How are you going to fight the aliens? Are you going to throw your shield?”

“Why do aliens keep coming? Can’t they just stay away?”

“Is Thor going to come with you? Is he going to help you fight Loki?”

“Can I _ please _come along?”

“Okay, okay, guys,” Tony reigns the room in. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing Cap here”--he lowers both of his hands over Steve’s shoulders--“can’t handle. Just a minor hiccup, really. Happens every week.”

“Right.” Steve nods frantically. “I—Uh, I’m sorry, but—”

“But it happens,” Tony helps. Then he opens a mischievous grin to the kids. “Lucky for you guys, that means _ I _get to take over from now on.”

The kids still have a lot of questions, but Tony lets them talk, taking advantage of their agitation to wink at Steve, who raises himself from the tiny chair and passes him the book.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

Tony gives him a light, tender pat on his face. “See you later.” As Steve backs away, Tony blows him a silent kiss, because—well, because he looked really cute in the tiny chair and Tony just can’t help it. Steve smiles, before turning away in the direction of the door.

“Now,” Tony says, turning to the kids and sitting down. He tries to not get too hung up on to the fact that the chair is much more comfortable to him than it probably was to Steve. “Who wants to tell me where the story stopped?”

* * *

Time goes by fast. For all that Tony complains, really, he loves those children. They’re so ridiculously _ fun _, and they enjoy his performance of the story, especially the high-pitched noise he makes for the chicken’s lines.

By the time he’s done, all of them are utterly absorbed, and Tony sees more than one pair of heavy eyes doing that slow blink one does when trying to fight sleepiness. He closes off the night by helping everyone clean up the playroom just as Kevin arrives to get everyone to bed.

On his way out, he meets Steve, who was helping the people from the kitchen clean up the kids’ dishes. As soon as they step out of the house, Tony wastes no time in getting all up in his space.

“Hey,” he says, pulling Steve’s waist closer, getting the earlier kiss back with a peck on Steve’s lips.

“Hey.” Steve grins, but his expression is a little reflexive in a way that makes Tony worried. “Hard work,” he comments as they start walking towards the car.

Alarm bells start playing in Tony’s head. “Yeah. But—” he tries to guess what Steve’s thinking by looking at him, but, nope, that’s still not in his realm of abilities, unfortunately. “You’re not upset, right? About the kids and everything.” His hand goes to the back of Steve’s neck, going up and down in a light stroke. “It wasn’t personal. I mean, they’re kids. They’re dumb. Their brains haven’t fully developed yet.”

Steve smiles and shakes his head. “I’m not upset. If anything, I’m thankful you stopped me from embarrassing myself even more.”

“Hey,” Tony says, stopping them both and cupping Steve’s face with his hands. “You weren’t embarrassing yourself. It was a new experience, and I should have prepared you better, and, again, they’re kids, they don’t mean anything by it. Next morning they’ll already have forgotten all about—why are you looking at me like that?”

Steve grins, face full of wonder, and his hands go up to hold Tony’s wrists. “Because,” he lowers Tony’s hands from his face gently. “You were _ amazing _ there.” His grin grows even more. “The kids loved you, and I can’t blame them. I, uh,” he lowers his eyes, a little bashful. “I might’ve sneaked in a little to watch some of the story. And you were just…” He takes a breath and shakes his head, as if Tony is something foreign, special, and not a face he’s grown used to seeing every day. “You were just great.”

“I--” Tony starts, but he’s never good at talking when Steve is looking at him like that. He might not even be good at breathing, then. “I--Thank you?”

Steve chuckles, and then leans forward and presses his lips to Tony’s mouth, in a sweet yet hurried movement. He pulls away just an inch, his nose still brushing Tony’s and his laugh lines so visible it’s almost insulting.

“I love you,” he whispers, as if they’re teenagers exchanging confessions under the bleachers.

Tony finds that it’s hard to talk and smile a lot at the same time. “Well, same here,” he says, and then presses another peck to Steve’s lips – a peck that quickly turns into three, because he can’t help himself. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“I did,” Steve says, reverently, running his fingers through Tony’s hair. “And I liked coming over, too. I might not be able to help with story time, but I’m okay with doing other things. The people in the kitchen seemed a little overwhelmed.”

Tony’s heart feels so swollen it’s going to sink down on his chest, and he’s really in overwhelming levels of love with this man, because even the image of him strongly concentrating on getting the kids’ dishes clean so they can eat their next meals is enough to make him feel like swooning. He runs his hands up and down Steve’s biceps.

“Definitely,” he agrees. “But we made a deal, Cap, remember? You meet the orphanage, and I’ll meet the shelter. Ball’s in your court now.”

This gets a blinding smile out of Steve. “Fine by me. The shelter is great – you’ll see, you’re gonna love it.”

Tony has the feeling that he’s gonna love cleaning poop and having to entertain overly excited drooling dogs as much as Steve loved trying to perform for a bunch of five-year-olds, but, hey. There’s no harm in trying, especially if it makes Steve smile like that.

“It’s a deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments/kudos warm my heart. You can also [reblog the fic on tumblr](https://elcorhamletlive.tumblr.com/post/188891204550/tell-me-a-story-nanasekei-marvel-cinematic).


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